From Dick Jordan, Mudclodbob Photo
Kasey Kahne hopes his driver Brad Sweet can continue his 2010 USAC Mopar National Midget success when the series makes its inaugural appearance at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway March 24-25. A win would be Kasey’s 41st in USAC competition as a driver or a car owner.
Sweet, of Grass Valley, Calif., will pilot Kahne’s Oille’s Bargain Outlet/Auto Value Spike/Mopar at the historic .363-mile paved oval after winning two of the first three races of the 2010 season at Tucson, Ariz. and Las Vegas, Nev.
Kahne won 21 USAC features as a driver before his move to NASCAR in 2004. Since his last USAC win as a driver in 2003, he has since earned 19 USAC feature wins as a car owner with victories in all three of USAC’s premier National series as an owner. Victorious drivers in Kahne entries since 2004 have included Sweet, Brady Bacon, Tyler Walker, Kevin Swindell and Ryan Durst, but Sweet leads the list with 11 wins.
Sweet has nine National Midget wins to his credit and has finished third and second in the last two National Midget Championship Series standings. He’d like to move up one notch this year and occupies the number one position heading into the Hickory doubleheader, the first appearance of USAC’s National Midgets in the Tarheel state in two years.
Sweet already owns victories in the prestigious Belleville (Kansas) Nationals and the “Four-Crown Nationals.”
A total of four 30-lap feature events are on tap at Hickory, featuring both the USAC Midgets and the very competitive Ford Focus Midgets.
Race fans can take advantage of a $5 discount by purchasing tickets on line at www.usacracing.com, by calling the USAC Headquarters at 317-247-5151 or by accessing the following link: http://www.usacracing.com/store/hickory-motor-speedway.html. Tickets are priced at $20 each night but a two-night ticket is available at the price of $35.
Fans attending the March 24-25 Hickory races will also have the opportunity to win a free “Richard Petty Driving Experience” in a 600-horsepower NASCAR-style stock car at Charlotte Motor Speedway!
The Hickory races continue a tradition of USAC racing in the Carolinas which stretches back to 1956 when the USAC Championship Cars raced at Darlington, S.C. The Hickory oval hosted Ford Focus races between 2004 and 2006 but the March 24-25 program marks the debut of USAC National racing at the .363-mile paved oval.
Kody Swanson of Kingsburg, Calif. won USAC’s last National Midget race in the Tarheel state, at Kenly in 2008. Previous National Midget winners in the state included Mel Kenyon at Asheville in 1968, Jim Hettinger at the Charlotte Coliseum in 1990, Tony Stewart at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1998 and Bobby Santos III at Concord in 2006.